Hybrid fiber/coaxial (HFC) communications systems transmit signals in a forward and reverse path between a headend and a plurality of subscribers. In the reverse path, a coaxial cable feeder portion connects the subscriber equipment (e.g., cable modems, digital set-top boxes) with an optical node, which conventionally converts the radio frequency (RF) signals received from the subscriber equipment to optical signals, that sits at the input of an optical link. Subsequently, the optical link connects the reverse path from the optical node to a hub or headend where the optical signals are processed accordingly.
Lasers used for reverse path signaling in the conventional approach to HFC network design are intensity modulated by amplitude modulated radio frequency (RF) electrical signals that contain information for transmission in the reverse path. Ideally the light intensity from these lasers is proportional to the amplitude of the electrical signals. The light is launched down a reverse path optical fiber and is attenuated by an amount that is a function of the length of that fiber. RF output power levels from conventional optical receivers are a function of the received optical input power. Thus the RF output power levels at receivers positioned at the end of very long fibers can be low due to the attenuation of the light over the long fiber distance, and may result in poor signal quality. Variations in the length of optical fibers throughout the HFC network result in variations in the received optical power at the input of each optical receiver. Consequently, RF output power is manually adjusted at each optical receiver to compensate for variations in optical loss from link to link.
Furthermore, due to current limitations, a single optical transmitter is coupled to a single optical receiver via optical fiber. Unlike electrical devices, such as taps and amplifiers, that combine and split electrical signals, optical signals cannot be combined while still preserving the information since the information is carried on a single wavelength. Therefore, conventionally, wave division multiplexers are used to change the wavelengths of each optical transmitter before
they are combined, and then at the receiving end, the wavelengths are demultiplexed and changed back to the original single wavelength prior to being received at an optical receiver. Regardless, there still remains a one to one correlation of an optical transmitter to an optical receiver. Therefore, there is a need to address the deficiencies and/or inadequacies of reverse optical systems.